James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

Permissions

All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Here is Goldsworthy Marlinspike from Chandara. There are a lot of lines converging on his left eye. The lines come from the top of the window, the telescope, both of his arms, and the top of the map.

Spokewheeling turns up everywhere. Jean Leon Gerome used it to center our gaze on the face of the victim of the masked duel. Click to enlarge.

And here, sans arrows, is a painting by Dean Cornwell. Look at all the spokes converging on the the left eye of the seated figure. There's the doorway, his left shoulder, both lapels of his jacket, his red necktie, his right arm, the gunman's belt, the leg of the fallen man, and the blue line on the building. The chair leg and the man's own leg almost align.

11 comments:

Hi James,Its a great pleasure for me to see your blog every day, you make me learn lot of things about arts, paints...And i really like your Dinotopia's works, it's really amazing how you paint all of your masterpieces.Have a nice week

Quick question: Where do you get all of your Dean Cornwell images? Do you have a certain book that you draw from? I would love to know what the best Cornwell book available would be, as most of the ones I find are dominated with B&W images.

No line no shape just by coincidence,all make sense and guide you through the picture in a ''subliminal ''way:))!An entire strong and invisible arhitecture behind the finished image!Thanks for this info:I must dedicate few days to your site:just to look,read and learn!Oh,I forgot to add:''and enjoy''!

From your posts about eye tracking ( gurneyjourney.blogspot.nl/2009/09/eye-tracking-and-composition-part-3.html ) I understood that this technique doesn't really work. (On the other hand shape welding does.) Did I misunderstand these posts?